Chattanoogans attended a candlelight vigil Sunday night in memory of the woman who was killed in Charlottesville, Va., after a car plowed into a group of counter-protesters.
The vigil was hosted by the Chattanooga chapter of Democratic Socialists of America and featured speeches by several leaders of political and social justice organizations.
The turnout was echoed across the nation as people gathered and marched to protest the Charlottesville violence, The Associated Press reported. They included Atlanta activists in town for a Netroot Nations event and Memphis residents who gathered at the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general, slave trader and Ku Klux Klan member. Activist Tami Sawyer said the violence in Virginia “isn’t going to scare anyone from speaking up for equal justice.”
The Chattanooga group gathered around a stage in a corner of Coolidge Park by the Tennessee River. Several held signs with messages such as “Love is greater than hate” and chanted “No Trump! No KKK ! No fascist USA!”
Many attendees chanted anti-fascist slogans, but others held signs and chanted against racism and white supremacy shown at Friday and Saturday’s rallies in Charlottesville, which was in response to the city’s plans to dismantle a statue of General Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.